All Trump Ever Stood For Was Hate & Lies But There is Plenty of Blame to Go Around

Donald Trump is not very complicated. He is a narcissistic con man with no moral or ethical core and he proved it again this week by stoking insurrection at the Capital with his election fraud fantasies. He has been remarkably successful at getting his followers to believe all sorts of insane theories, but convincing a mob to attack the Capital to "Stop the Steal" puts him in the "Svengali" Hall of Fame, in the exalted company of Jim Jones and history's other infamous puppet masters.

But, Trump couldn't have unleashed an insurrection without the assistance of his enablers in Congress, much more concerned with their political futures than truth or the nation's wellbeing. Senators Ted Cruz of TX and Josh Hawley of MO will receive much of the blame, but there were many other Republicans in the House and Senate who helped instigate yesterday's mayhem. Each understood the damage they were inflicting on the nation but chose ambition over country.

More broadly, Donald Trump is simply a mirror for the prejudices and petty resentments harbored by many Americans, stoked for decades by right-wing talk radio, social media, and the idiots on Fox news. Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Tucker Carlson, to name just a few, make a living by fueling and shaping the darkest human emotions, feeding their listeners a constant drumbeat of conspiracy theories, lies, and hate. Donald Trump forged their warped message into a political movement that has appealed to more Americans than anyone thought possible and that will last long beyond January 20th.

So, Yes, Donald Trump should be immediately removed from office, and his enablers must pay a price for their actions, but then the nation must address the underlying problem - a large number of our fellow citizens are living in an alternative reality of stolen elections, virus and climate hoaxes, and child-abusing deep state cabals.

Over the last 12 hours I have been bombarded with crazy stories about Antifa and members of Black Lives Matter, masquerading as white supremacists, carrying out the attack on the capital. Like an insanity virus, such accusations are everywhere today in the right-wing social media universe. Way too Americans have lost touch with objective reality, lost in the fog of alt-right nonsense.

So, Joe Biden's greatest challenge will be to restore objective truth because you can't have reasonable debates about important public policy questions when one side believes that Hillary Clinton and Antifa are coming to kidnap their children. It's not possible.

#opinion #Trump

By: Don Lam & Curated Content